Page Contents:
Hollenbeck Bike Lanes
Call to Action!
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Sign the Petition for buffered bike lanes.
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Speak at the Council Meeting on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 5 pm.
1. Sign the Petition
2. Email Sunnyvale City Council
Send a personalized email to Sunnyvale City Council. This is ten times more impactful than signing the petition. Suggested content:
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"Please implement Alternative 1 of the Hollenbeck Bike Lanes Study: buffered bike lanes and removal of on-street parking."
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Explain your connection to Hollenbeck Ave. How do you use it? Do you have children who attend schools nearby?
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Describe how Hollenbeck today is dangerous for biking. Share personal stories, such as near-misses you've witnessed.
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If there were safe bike lanes on Hollenbeck, would you bike on it? What would your destinations be?
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Explain why you support buffered bike lanes on Hollenbeck. Examples: safe bike route to school, safe bike route to work, clean environment, physical health, mental health, independence for children.
Sample email (use for inspiration only)
Dear Sunnyvale City Council,
Please implement Alternative 1 of the Hollenbeck Bike Lanes Study.
I would like to bike on Hollenbeck but dare not because it is too dangerous without a dedicated bike lane. If it were made safe, I could bike to work. My children would be able to bike to school and their friends' houses on their own, giving them the freedom they deserve. Sincerely, XXX Parent and commuter
3. Speak at Council Meeting
3. Speak at the Council Meeting
Speaking at the Council meeting will make the greatest impact of all. At this meeting, Council will receive input from the Public and Staff. Best is to show up in-person. Speaking by Zoom is impactful too. Meeting details:
Council Meeting on Hollenbeck Bike Lanes
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Time: 5:00-7:00 pm
Location: Sunnyvale City Hall, 456 Olive Ave.
Zoom link will be available a few days beforehand on the City calendar.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
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Hollenbeck Ave has no bike lanes. Yet, it is a critical north-south corridor serving many destinations.
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Cyclists have to share the road with cars regularly speeding at 40 mph.
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Cyclists are forced to swerve around parked cars into car traffic.
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Cars build up behind cyclists in the vehicle lane and illegally swerve into oncoming traffic to pass cyclists.
THE SOLUTION
The City's proposed Alternative 1 will:
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Install buffered bike lanes, consistent with Caltrans guidance.
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Remove on-street parking.
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Improve safety at intersections.
These improvements will:
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Greatly improve safety for cyclists, especially children and new riders.
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Dedicate lanes just to cars so they won't be stuck behind cyclists or need to veer into oncoming traffic to pass cyclists.
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Create unobstructed views for all road users.
Alternative 1 buffered bike lanes are safe.
BENEFITS
BicyclE
Safety
Alternative 1 will enable children and adults to safely bike to the many destinations served by Hollenbeck.
CAR
Safety
With dedicated car lanes, drivers won't need to veer into oncoming traffic to get around cyclists.
Critical Link iN Bike Network
The proposed bike lanes are a critical north-south link in Sunnyvale's bicycle network, connecting to schools, parks, library, and many other destinations.
Sustain future population
As the population grows, residents will have a safe, efficient, clean, and sustainable alternative to driving.
IMPROVE INTERSECTIONS
The project will improve safety at key intersections, benefiting all road users.
FAQ
DOES ANYBODY BIKE ON HOLLENBECK?
Yes, over 100 people already bike on Hollenbeck daily, despite having no bike lanes and having to share the road with cars. School children already bike on Hollenbeck to get to these schools: Cumberland Elementary, Sunnyvale Middle, Cupertino Middle, Homestead High, and Challenger. The photos below show children biking on Hollenbeck on a typical school day. If so many people are willing to bike on Hollenbeck today, imagine how many more would bike if Hollenbeck were made safe.
CAN PEOPLE BIKE ON OTHER ROUTES INSTEAD?
In general, no. There are 2 parallel routes to Hollenbeck: Mary Ave and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd. These routes are infeasible and/or unacceptable for 3 reasons:
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Destinations on Hollenbeck can be reached only by traveling on Hollenbeck.
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Each parallel route lengthens the travel distance by 1 mile. That's equivalent to asking cars to go 3 miles out of the way. This is unacceptable for most people.
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Sunnyvale-Saratoga is a high-speed arterial that is dangerous and unpleasant to bike on. Cars speed at 50 mph on this 6-lane road. In the last 10 years, Sunnyvale-Saratoga was the site of 38 collisions involving cyclists.
Currently, over 100 people bike on Hollenbeck daily, even though it's unsafe. Instead of needlessly directing people to take alternate routes, we should make Hollenbeck safe to bike on.
* Collisions are bike-car collisions, some severe, collected over the last 10 years.
WHERE WILL RESIDENTS PARK?
Hollenbeck houses have at least 4 parking spaces and on average 5 parking spaces on their property. Many have more. Most residents park their vehicles on their property. Parking on side streets is also available within a short walk away.
Hollenbeck street parking usage is low, only 10% on a typical night. Many of these cars could be parked in the driveway instead, reducing the necessary street parking usage to just 4%.
Replacing street parking with bike lanes has been done before on other Sunnyvale residential streets. Sunnyvale Avenue, Maude Avenue, and Homestead Road are three notable examples. After conversion, these roads became safe for cyclists, and residents were still able to park their cars.
WHERE WILL DELIVERY VANS, VISITORS, AND CONTRACTORS PARK?
Delivery vans will continue to make deliveries like they normally do by briefly pausing on the street. Visitors, contractors, and the handicapped can park on the driveway and, if needed, residents can move their car to a side street to make room. For large construction projects, contractors can apply for a city permit to termporarily use street space.
WHAT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE 2?
Alternative 2 is dangerous. This alternative features unbuffered bike lanes on both sides of the street and a parking lane on one side of the street. Alternative 2 has some major flaws that make it unsafe for biking. Consider these safety problems of Alternative 2:
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The largest safety problem is "dooring". Without a buffer, cyclists ride in the door zone, exposing themselves to crashing into a car door that suddenly opens. Being doored can cause severe injury and even death. To avoid the door zone, cyclists have to ride on the left edge of the bike lane or in the car lane itself.
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The parking lane zigzags 11 times from one side of the street to the other. At parking zone transitions, drivers tend to park beyond the parking zone and in the bike lane, causing cyclists to dangerously swerve into traffic to avoid parked cars.
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The bike lane clear pavement is reduced to 3' in some segments, which is too narrow for safety.
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Without a buffer, vertical barriers would not be able to be installed in the future. Lack of buffers is inconsistent with Caltrans guildance.
In summary, Alternative 1's buffered bike lanes are far safer than Alternative 2's door zone bike lanes.
WHAT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE 3?
Alternative 3 is the most dangerous of all. This alternative is the current condition (parking lanes on both sides and no bike lane) with the addition of sharrows to indicate that bikes are to share the travel lane with cars. Alternative 3 goes against Caltrans guildance. Research has shown that implementing sharrows does not increase bicycle ridership, but does lead to more collisions and severe injuries than having no bicycle facilities at all. So, Alternative 3 is worse than not doing anything at all.
WHERE WILL I PUT MY GARBAGE BINS FOR PICKUP?
Garbage bins can be placed in the buffer, between the bike lane and the car lane. In the buffer, garbage bins do not block bike or car travel. On Sunnyvale Avenue where buffered bike lanes were implemented in 2023, residents place their garbage bins in the buffer.
WILL EMERGENCY VEHICLES BE ABLE TO GET THROUGH?
Yes, emergency vehicles will be able to get through. Alternative 1 will actually facilitate emergency vehicle passage better than current conditions. The buffered bike lanes can serve as emergency vehicle access. In contrast, the parked cars in the current conditions hamper the passage of emergency vehicles.
WILL ALTERNATIVE 1 CAUSE MORE TRAFFIC CONGESTION?
No, Alternative 1 will not cause more traffic congestion. On the contrary, Alternative 1 is expected to reduce traffic congestion. Here are the top 3 reasons why:
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Alternative 1 does not change the number of car lanes, so Hollenbeck's car capacity remains unchanged.
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Currently, car traffic slows to 10 mph whenever a cyclist is forced into the travel lane by a parked car. With Alternative 1, drivers are separated from cyclists so cars do not bunch up behind cyclists.
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With safe bike lanes, more people will choose to bike instead of drive on Hollenbeck, thus reducing car congestion. Children will be able to bike to school instead of their parents driving them to school.
WILL ALTERNATIVE 1 CAUSE DRIVERS TO SPEED?
No, Alternative 1 will not cause drivers to speed. The current car lane width is 12'; Alternative 1 reduces it to 11'. Narrowing car lanes has the known effect of reducing car speeds. Future vertical barriers, if installed in the buffer, will also have the effect of reducing car speeds.
The scope of the current study is limited to adding bike lanes on Hollenbeck. It is not meant to address car speed and volume. Instead, the City's Traffic Calming Program is available for these concerns. A separate study would have to be initiated for traffic calming.
DO CITY POLICIES SUPPORT BIKE LANES?
Yes, city policies unequivocally prioritize bike lanes over street parking. The City's Land Use and Transportation Element of the General Plan says:
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Prioritize safe bike lanes over street parking (LT-3.8, LT-3.9, LT-3.10).
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Promote transportation modes in this priority: pedestrians, non-automotive (bicycles, ...), mass transit, delivery vehicles, single-occupant automobiles (LT-3.6)
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Prioritize subsidies to and support for bicycling (LT-3.15).
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Eliminate subsidies to car parking and driving (LT-3.13).
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Support alternatives to the single-occupant automobile such as walking and bicycling (LT-3.1).
WILL BIKE LANES DECREASE MY HOME VALUE?
No, bike lanes will not decrease home value, according to many studies done across multiple US cities. On the contrary, national organizations like National Association of Realtors and Urban Land Institute report that high quality bike lanes help to increase property values. Bike lanes serve as a serious selling point. CEOs for Cities pegs the property value increase due to bike lanes at $34K.
In contrast, the presence or absence of street parking does not clearly affect home prices one way or the other, according to urban studies research done at Portland State University.